Connecter cap



May 28, 1935. Y F, c. KOLLATH- 2,002,779

CONNECTER CAP Filed Oct. 21, 1929 jrvemvn Fi a/'6 a bio/lath MW/WWapplication Patented May 28, 1935 UNITED STATES CONNECTER CAP Francis 0.Kollath, Chicago, Ill. assignor, by mesne assignments, to Cutler-Hammer,Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Application October 21,1929, Serial No. 401,049

13 (llaims.

My invention relates to connecter caps and more especially to shockabsorbing caps in which the body is made of a suitable rubber-likematerial similar to that shown in my copending Serial Number 296,309 andwhich is ordinarily used in connection with extension cords for makingseparable connection with attachment plugs and receptacles.

Connecter caps having a body made of moulded insulation are easilydamaged and often broken by being dropped on cement floors or by otherrough usage. In connecter caps of the shock absorbing type, it has beennecessary to mould the interior, including the blades and attachedconductors, into the rubber base or to insert and remove these interiorsby the use of a special tool for stretching the base sufiiciently toallow the removal and insertion of the interior.

In my invention, I have overcome these objections and it is one of theobjects to provide a connecter cap which will be shock absorbing and inwhich the connecter blades and their support may be easily removed forwiring and inserted without the use of any tools.

Another object is to provide a connecter cap which may be easily wiredand in which the connecter blades are rigidly secured in spaced relationand which is provided with a suitable strain relief.

A further object is to provide an article of manufacture of few pa'rts,easy to assemble, cheap to manufacture, and which will not easily getout of order.

Further objects will appear from the detailed specification to followand from the appended claims.

Realizing that my invention may be varied in its physical embodimentwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, I desire it to beunderstood that the specific construction herein shown is to be taken asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

In the accompanying drawing in which an embodiment of my invention isshown,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through a connecter cap embodying myinvention, the interior being shown in full lines.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the device as illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on a line corresponding toline 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the base with the interior removed andtaken on a line corresponding to line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the connecter blades.

Referring now to the drawing in detail the embodiment of my invention asillustrated comprises a handle i made of a soft, flexible, elastic, 5rubber-like material preferably moulded and having an enlarged portion 2with a chamber 3 therein. The passage 4 extends through the handle andcommunicates with the chamber 3 for the passage of suitable conductors5. The l0 chamber 3 is preferably provided with tapered side walls 6.The bottom of the chamber forms the shoulder 71 against which theinsulating base 3 is seated.

The base 8 may be made of any suitable insulat- 5 ing material such assheet fibre and is supported in the slots 9 in the side walls of thechamber 3.

The slots 9 extend to a point slightly below and adjacent the front endof the cap, the overhanging portion E0 of the handle serving to retainthe insulating base 8 with the connecter blades or prongs l l supportedsecurely in the chamber 3.

These connecter blades H are secured to the insulating base 8 by meansof the rivets l2, and are provided with the binding screws l3 for theconductors 5.

The connecter blades or on opposite sides of the parallel to each other.These prongs are off-set from their bases i5 as clearly shown in Fig. 5so that they will be disposed opposite from each other and spaced fromthe base 8 as clearly shown in Fig. 3. l

The contour of the base 8 is such as to fit snugly within the slots 9,the upper portion of the slots being enlarged at l4 to receive theriveted end portions I5 of the blades l I.

The enlarged portion I4 of each slot 9 is formed for the purpose ofreceiving the base portion I 5 of each prong II. The slots 9 with theirenlarged portions l4 therefore snugly engage the base member 8 and theouter edges of the bases l5, Fig. 3.

The inner surface of each of these portions l5 5 .is knurled as shown at[6 thus providing a suitable means to prevent the turning of the bladeunder the riv'ets l2.

The base 8 is provided adjacent its lower end with the opening I!through which the conductors pass in opposite directions as shown inFig. 1, thus providing an efiicient strain relief to prevent the wiresbeing pulled from the binding screws l3.

It will be noted the the interior is securely prongs H are mounted base8 and are located held in position in the handle and supportedin theslots 9 by the elastic properties of the base.

When it is desired to remove the interior from the handle in order tosecure the conductors to the terminals, the enlarged portion is placedbetween the thumb and finger at points opposite the binding screws l3.At the same time the blades and base 8 are pushed to the right, the basetaking the form shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2 and allowing theupper edge of the base 8 to be tilted and removed from the correspondingslot,9. The opposite side of the base is removed from its correspondingslot in the same manner.

In inserting the interior," it is only necessary to press the enlargedend 2 of the base together slightly, the tapered contour of the base 8allowing it to be forced downwardly and into the chamber 3 of the rubberhandle until the base slips into the slots 9 as shown in Fig. 1.

It is sometimes desirable to dispense with the binding screws l3 inwhich case the conductors may be soldered directly to the connecterblades 1 Having thus described my invention, H what I claim and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A shock absorbing connecter comprising a handle made of a soft,elastic, rubber-like material, a flat, thin, longitudinal, removablebase longitudinally arrangedin said handle and supported ,in position inthe handle by. the elastic properties of the handle, connecter memberssupported by said base and removable therewith, said connecter membersbeing fastened to the flat sides of the base and on opposite sidesthereof, said connecter members also having offset parts to space theconnecters a proper distance apart to be receivable in a cooperatingelectric member,

and conductor terminals on said members.

2. A shock absorbing connecter comprising a handle made of a soft,elastic, rubber-like matehandle, spaced connecter members supported bysaid base; said base having sides spaced from the handle andbeingremovable from the handle by applying pressure against the sides of saidhandle where the base is spaced from the handle.

4. A shock absorbing connecter comprising a handle made of a soft,elastic, rubber-like material and having a chamber therein, acomparatively thin, tapered, insulating base supported in slots in theside walls of said chamber said slots ending. at a point below the faceof said handle,

said handle having an overhanging portion of the handle forming aretaining means for said base, and spaced connecter pins supported onsaid base.

5. An electric connecter comprising an insulated flat thin longitudinalbase having flat sides and contact prongs fastened to said flat sides onopposite sides of the base, said prongs being ofiset to operable spacedpositions, and a soft rubber casing totally encasing the base.

6. An electrical connecter comprising a casing made of elastic materialhaving opositely disposed longitudinal grooves therein, a relativelythin but relatively rigid insulating base slidingly and removablyreceived in said grooves and longitudinally disposed in said casing,means for holding said base in said grooves, and electrical contactsconnected with said base and having portions thereof projecting fromsaid casing.

7. An electrical connecter comprising a flexible rubber casing havingoppositely disposed longitudinal grooves therein, arelatively thin butrelatively rigid insulating base arranged in said grooves andlongitudinally disposed in said casing, said casing having integralshoulders overhanging and engaging the base for holding the base .in thegrooves, and electrical contacts connected with said base and adapted tobe retained by the latter in spaced and insulated relationship to eachother. e

8. An electrical connecter comprising a flexible rubber casing having a.chamber therein, a relatively thin elongated base longitudinallyarranged in said casing and retained therein by the elastic propertiesof the base and contact prongs fixed to said base on opposite sidesthereof, said contact prongs being off-set from the base to properlyspace them from each ether.

9. An electrical connecter comprising a flexible rubber casing having achamber therein, diametrically disposed longitudinal slots in saidchamber, a fiat base arranged in said slots and engaging the bottom ofthe chamber, contact prongs fastened to opposite sides of the base andoff-set therefrom, and an integral overhanging. ledge on said casing andengaging the base for.

holding the base in the casing.

10. In an electric connecter comprising a casing formed of elasticmaterial and having oppositely disposed longitudinal grooves therein, aflat elongated base arranged in the grooves, and connecter prongsfastened to opposite sides of the base and extending a predetermineddistance beyond the end of the casing, said base being maintained inposition in the grooves by the elastic properties of the casing, therebeing spaces on opposite sides of the flat base, said base beingremovable from the casing when pressure is applied on the casing at thespaces on the sides of the base whereby the casing will become elongatedand permit removal of the base.

11. An electrical connecter comprising a flex ible rubber casing havinga chamber therein, a relatively thin butrelatively rigid elongated baselongitudinally arranged within said chamber and retainedtherein by theelastic properties of the base, and a plurality of combined contact andwiring terminal members associated with said base and retained inposition thereby.

12. An attachment plug cap comprising a relatively thin but relativelyrigid plate of insulating material, a pair of contact prongs rigidlyattached to said base on opposite sides thereof respectively, saidprongs having the free end portions thereof offset from said base toafford a proper space relationship therebetween, a flexible rubbercasinghaving a recess into which said base is forcibly insertableedgewise to extend longitudinally of said casing, and a pair ofconductors extending into said casing and electrically connected to saidcontact prongs, said base having an opening formed therein and intowhich the conductors may be threaded in reverse directions respectivelyto provide a strain relief for the electrical connections between thelatter an said contact prongs.

13. An attachment plug cap comprising a cap body formed of a relativelysoft, elastic, rubberlike insulating material and having a relativelydeep recess opening to one end thereof, the longitudinal wall of saidrecess being provided with a pair of grooves arranged in diametricallyopposed relationship to each other, said grooves terminating in a commonplane spaced inwardly from the open end of said cap body to provide stopshoulders formed integrally with the latter, a relatively thin butrelatively rigid base of insulating material forcibly insertable intosaid recess and longitudinally disposed therein, the side and end edgesof said base being adapted to be snugly accommodated by the walls ofsaid groves whereby said base is positively retained in assembledrelation to said cap body, a pair of one-piece combined plug jack andwiring terminal members supported by' said base, the plug jack portionsof said members being oflset from said base and extending outwardly fromsaid cap bodyin properly spaced relation, said cap body having anextension formed integrally therewith to provide a handgrip, and saidextension having a cord passage extending therethrough and. opening tosaid recess. g

FRANCIS C. KOLLATH.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,002,779. May 28, 1935.

FRANCIS C. KOLLATH.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2,first column, lines 63 and 64, claim 4, strike out the words "of .thehandle"; line 74, claim 6, for "opositely" read oppositely; and page 3,second column, line 1, claim 13, for "groves" read grooves; and that thesaid Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein thatthe s ame may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of September, A. D. 1935.

Leslie Frazer Acting Commissioner of Patents.

